Tokyo, Japan - Week 3 (Karuizawa and more Tokyo)

Hello Family and Friends,

The onsen is a Japanese public bath house. It is a historically cultural practice in Japan to bathe all together. However, influence from the west has created separate bath house for men and women. We were in Karuizawa for our (either first of many or only?) onsen experience.

The view from the train on our way to Karuizawa.

We were there for two days and I went to the onsen four times. I absolutely loved the onsen! It was my sister's idea and I didn't think I would like it so much. I loved that you just show up and everything is provided. You don't need to get ready to go to the onsen. I also loved that bathing is the event. This particular onsen had both cold and hot baths and I took advantage of both.

 In our matching hotel pajamas preparing to go to the onsen.

On our way into Karuizawa, Brett left his back pack on the train. It had his laptop, headphones and a stack of US currency. He had to take a 3.5 hour train ride one way with connections to retrieve it from the lost and found at the end of the line. The most unbelievable part is that nothing was missing. Even the cash was still there. Japan has a very low theft rate. Even when we go to the park, there is stroller parking where everyone just leaves their strollers with bags and all. You come back and all your stuff is still there. Brett did get to see some more of Japan while on his seven hour round trip train ride.

On the way to Tsuruga, the end of the line, to retrieve his backpack.

But the worst part of his 7 hour round trip is that it was his birthday. By the time he returned from his train adventure he was tired. So we did an easy dinner at a very authentic Japanese pub called an "izakaya". The food was surprisingly good, but the drinks were bad.

The chairs were crates with cushions.

The next night I made sure that we celebrated Brett's birthday properly. We went to a restuarant where there was no menu.

Preparing to start our meal at Toritaka.

It was a chef's meal where everything was based on chicken. We ate every part of the chicken from the shoulder, to the hip, to the liver.

The chef preparing one of our many chicken bites.

They served us somewhere between 8-10 different bites of chicken. Most plates were only one bite dishes.

Every bite was presented beautifully.

Brett also got the saki pairing and I got the wine pairing. After three glasses of wine and maybe four glasses of saki, we lost track of the food and drinks.

I could have spent the rest of my time in Japan at the onsen, but we had to get back to Tokyo so that my sister could catch her flight home. Upon our return to Tokyo, we visited the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It was a great spot to see so many of the cherry blossoms in bloom.

 We told Atlas that the white petals of the cherry blossoms were snow.

A good view of the cherry blossoms.

More cherry blossom beauty.

I have now seen cherry blossoms both in Japan and DC and if the truth be told, DC is better. In Japan cherry blossoms just happen. They are a normal part of spring. In DC cherry blossom season is an event. They are all concentrated around the national mall and they have a team that makes sure that they all bloom at the same time. They also have an opening ceremony, a parade, multiple fun runs and events like Taiko drumming. Now the cherry blossoms in Japan are older and therefore larger. However, in my opinion, cherry blossoms in DC are better. Also getting around on the metro in DC is infinitely easier than in Tokyo making the cherry blossom experience more pleasant in DC. It must be why we saw so many Japanese tourist in DC during their cherry blossom season.